Unboxing

Unboxing

First and foremost, after unboxing everything check what you ordered and make sure you're not missing anything from your order. There should usually be a packing list. In addition, before contacting the company you ordered your parts from, make sure that your order wasn't sent in multiple shipments. Now that you've got everything, onto the building! The steps below are in order of what I would recommend, although there are multiple ways to assemble a computer.

General Handling of Computer Equipment and Safety

All of the components of your computer have exposed electrical connections that are sensitive to any outside electrical influence. Use extreme caution when handling these components. Even the slight static charges that we associate with a shock can short out a component. I recommend wearing a grounding strap during the construction process of your computer. A grounding strap is a simple device that attaches to your wrist and has a long wire that can clip to a grounded object such as a plugged in power supply. It ensures that you never build up any static charge. If you do not have a grounding strap or do not want to purchase one, a suitable alternative is to take your power supply out of the box and actually plug it in to the wall. This will ground the power supply housing. Frequently try to touch the housing of the power supply in order to ground any electrical charge that might have built up inside your body.

A good practice to avoid is working on carpet. Try to work in a room with a hardwood floor, or wear rubber soled shoes instead of socks. This will minimize risk of static buildup.

In addition, use extreme caution to avoid allowing metal to contact any of these components where it is not designed to. Metal contact does not present a problem until the computer is started though, so you don't have to worry about it until such time. But, for instance, if you drop a screw, make sure you find it before you try to start the computer. The screw can connect two different electrical components that were not designed to be connected and burn something out.

As for liquids, avoid them completely. They should be no where near the computer when you're building it. This is because if you spill anything on the computer, even if you dry it off or wait for it to dry, it will still leave trace amounts of minerals that can still short out components. These minerals can be cleaned off with a special liquid electronics cleaner spray but it is a pain that is much easier to not worry about.